Loudoun County recently completed a survey of County residents regarding the human services that the County provides.

Loudoun County recently released an assessment of human services provided by local government and non-profit organizations over the past year.

Beth Rosenberg of the Loudoun County Department of Family Services said the county contracted with the University of Virginia in April 2009.

The university mailed surveys to 2,200 households in Loudoun County, a “scientifically significant, random sample,” she said. Surveys were mailed in June of this year, and the county sent a mailing reminding participants to complete the surveys in July. – Leesburg Patch

(Incidentally, that story link is from Leesburg Patch, a new microtargeted news site from AOL. It’s worth a read!)

When you dig into the survey results themselves, you find out some interesting things.

The opinions about human service revealed in the general population survey illustrate a central tension. Despite significant concerns that human services are often abused or cheated, do not solve underlying problems, or may lead people to become dependent on them, about three-quarters of county residents say that providing human services is the right thing to do – including a clear majority of respondents who are the most skeptical of human services in general. And eight in ten county residents agree that some tax dollars should be used to pay for human services. – Loudoun County Community Assessment

That point bears repeating, with emphasis. “About three-quarters of county residents say that providing human services is the right thing to do – including a clear majority of respondents who are the most skeptical of human services in general.”

The most important question to ask the “always lower taxes, every year” crowd is “which services would you cut.” The vast majority of Loudoun residents support providing public human services. And that includes a majority of Republicans. Cuts due to falling revenues do not fall on the amorphous “budget.” They fall on specific services, which hurt specific people.

So in the 2011 elections, Republican (and Democratic) candidates who campaign on the mantra of doing more with less, and keeping taxes low must answer the question of how, and what cuts to what services.

Because as this assessment shows, we need those services. And that “we” is us, the people of Loudoun, who will be voting in November.